97/99
Birdman ★★★★★

98/99
Paddington ★★★★

99/99
The Imitation Game ★★★

As well as consulting experts in AI while writing the film, Garland approached the dilemma of coming up with dialogue for his cerebral characters by turning to internet search engines.

“You Google,” he said. “There’s lines that are lifted and debates that I’d see happening. But I wanted the arguments to be reasonable so I checked it [with scientists].”

Ex Machina, released on January 23, is the first time Garland has taken on the role of director, but he downplayed the importance of the title, saying: “I think the film is a group of people working together. Largely people respond to the production designer or the actors or the composer.”

Speaking after a preview screening at the BFI this week, Garland also warned of the dangers inherent in advanced science being only accessible to a small circle. He said: “There are areas of science that are literally only understood by a handful of people and because some of those areas have real ethical implications it’s something we need to think about.”